Lemon and Cointreau Drizzle Cakes

A friend told me that Union Chapel up in Islington was holding a summer fete and when I checked out the event, I saw that there was a baking competition. I was in. So in. I’m competitive ok! Quite late in the day I found out it was a lemon drizzle competition and thought excellent – easy peasy, I have a tried and tested recipe! (A competition is no time to experiment unless you have time and energy for multiple trials. I’ll post about my alternative mince pies from last year before next Christmas). And then I thought hmmm, my lemon drizzle is good, but what will make it stand out from the crowd, make it better, make it a winner? The answer to this question is almost always, “bacon” but in the case, the second option, “booze” was a better fit. So I added Cointreau.

So, on the day, there were 12 entries – with impressive variety.

Mine was the top right entry – the overall winner was the top left entry – Basil and Lemon Cake

The public were offered the chance to try all 12 entries for £4 and vote in 4 categories

Best looking (never my forte)
Best for ‘Lemony-ness'(maybe adding an orange flavour was a mistake?)
Best for ‘Drizzly-ness’ (I added icing – hmmm)
Best overall (you never know I suppose)

The competition was tough and a Basil and Lemon Cake won best overall but…..

As the winners were announced….

I only went and won the Best for ‘Lemony-ness’ category – super chuffed! (And a little surprising considering the fairly prominent orange flavour from the Cointreau!). I won a lovely Union Chapel tote bag.

I have included a little slideshow at the bottom with some pictures taken on our behind the scenes tour at Union Chapel – I’d recommend checking it out, its a lovely building and great gig venue with fab acoustics.

And so to the cake….

My recipe is more or less the Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake from the greatest Nigella Lawson book, How to be a Domestic Goddess. I leave out the lemon zest and add in some lemon juice (and in this case Cointreau). I’ve used this recipe numerous times in many variations; as a layer cake, a tray bake and as cupcakes/muffins. The ratio of fat to sugar/flour/egg and addition of milk is slightly different to a classic victoria sandwich cake and I think makes for a lighter, softer sponge. I’ve adapted the drizzle too, however, this was more to accommodate my lack of icing sugar in the house than a tactical decision. I used butter in this recipe too, again due to my lack of low fat spread – I do usually use that however.

Note – I used 8. It was a mistake. Excuse the pictures. The cake rose too much and I had to trim off the tops. This isn’t ideal. I should have used 12!)

Tip – I use an ice cream scoop to keep the portioning even.

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Bake for around 20 minutes – until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. I had to separate my ballooning batch cakes 5 minutes before they were finished cooking.

Leave on a cooling rack to cool.

Note – Using 12 cases, you won’t need to, but at this point I sliced off the tops of the cakes (for competition presentation, I wouldn’t have otherwise). Don’t worry the trimmings did not go to waste.

Whilst the cakes are cooling, add 4 tbsp Lemon Juice, 5 tbsp Caster Sugar and 1 tbsp Cointreau to a small saucepan and heat gently whilst stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the syrup starts bubbling (see below pic), take it off the heat. This should take no more than 3 to 4 minutes.

Spoon a scant tablespoon of the syrup over each cake (while still warm) and leave them to finish cooling.

To make the icing glaze, mix 200g Icing Sugar and 3 tbsp Lemon Juice to a smooth paste.

Use about 1 tbsp of icing on each of the totally cooled cakes and use a knife or spatula to distribute evenly.

Using a fine grater, Zest one Lemon directly over the wet icing from a good height for even distribution.

Tip – Put the cakes as close to each other as you can for the zesting to minimize waste in the gaps.

I then used a tupperware container with a tight fit to transport the cakes to the fete – the less the cakes can move, the more likely they are to reach their destination intact.

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